Sorry

I didn't mean to be misleading. I was thinking on the lines that if you have a 45 gallon water butt that is already full (particulary on a day like today) and any extra water has nowhere to go but down the drain - where your local water company will collect it and then sell it back to you - the idea is to turn some or all of your current water into crystals and store them, leaving your water butt empty and ready to fill up again with fresh rainfall.

On Sat, 25 Mar 2006 22:06:16 +0000, michael adams wrote
(in message ):

Assuming the bathroom is upstairs

I wish it was- it would all be so much easier! I live in a flat with the
garden on the same level and siphoning would not work for this.

Siphoning is however a truly exellent technique- I used to use it for large
aquaria and almost got to the point of not getting
fish-urea-mixed-with-warm-water in my mouth any more, but it always seemed to
happen every so often, just to keep me on my toes.

--
VX (remove alcohol for email)

You might try planting native plants from your area. They're already
used to living on rainfall alone. I have a dry garden here in
California and I've had good luck with natives (from here) and
succulent plants. Succulents, like cacti, are great with drought,
except they cannot survive frost or snow. We are always trying to
recreate English gardens here, surely you have lots of wonderful
natives to plant. Also, try picking your battles; group high water
plants together, or pick one area that you want to 'save' with water in
existing plantings. Read up on the plants you are growing now, perhaps
their water requirements are lower than you think. You'll have to just
keep an eye on them while you both adjust to new watering schedules.

I feel your frustration with water rationing. We had it here a few
years ago. -And the farmers continued growing RICE in the high desert!
The polymer idea is good, but it is hard to implement on a large scale.
Mulching helps to keep the soil moist. Adding lots of organic matter
(like peat moss) also helps. If you have a compost pile, use your
compost as mulch - it works great and is also good nutrition for your
plants. Strong, healthy plants can resist drought longer than weak
plants.

Reusing household water is also great. In the US this water is called
"Greywater". You might try a search on 'greywater systems' that will
store and filter water for you. Plants can only take so much soap. I
usually just save my rinse water from the laundry to cut down on the
soap. I've used my soapy water on the lawn but I try to alternate with
'fresh' water. Perhaps the rain will help you there...
We have a soap here called Ivory, it is pure soap which breaks down
well. Look for 'soap' as opposed to 'detergent' on the label. Good
luck!

writes
You might try planting native plants from your area. They're already
used to living on rainfall alone.

The problem is that areas of the UK are having a lot less rainfall than
they're used to. So quite possibly even the native plants are used to
having more water than they're getting at the moment.

It doesn't apply to the whole UK - where I am (Yorkshire) recent years
have been wetter, and I'm seeing the land and the flora change - new
areas of water, and more damp-loving plants like lesser celandine.

We are always trying to
recreate English gardens here, surely you have lots of wonderful
natives to plant.

English gardens are not usually created using native plants ;-)

But you make an excellent point that plants may need less water than we
think. There is a tendency to water if you have it available, which can
discourage roots from heading down towards the deeper damp soil. Keeping
watering to a minimum, for example only t the initial planting/sowing,
helps develop a plant less dependent on high levels of water.
--
Kay

In article , K
writes
How easy is it to fill the hose with water if you've put a stopped in
the bottom end? - if you do it at a trickle, then the air can escape,
but try and run the water in too fast and don't you get problems?




You don't have t suck the water out of the other end to start the siphon
do you?
Would put me off entirely.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , K
writes
How easy is it to fill the hose with water if you've put a stopped in
the bottom end? - if you do it at a trickle, then the air can escape,
but try and run the water in too fast and don't you get problems?




You don't have t suck the water out of the other end to start the siphon
do you?

No.

Put a funnel in the end of the hose and stick it under the
bath tap and let the water pour in slowly.

You can actually do this for all siphoning, fish tanks, petrol
tanks, whatever. Providing you have a supply of the necessary
liquid - petrol etc to hand, to slowly pour back down the hose
to the source to make a continuous body of liquid.

If the funnel has a lip with a hole in it for hanging it up
or whatever or even just a lip you can make a hole in,
you can loop string through that and loop it around
the tap and leave it. As it takes a while to fill up.

Siphoning is no good if you're in a tearing hurry however.



Would put me off entirely.


Indeed.


michael adams

....

--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

"K" wrote in message
...
writes
We are always trying to
recreate English gardens here, surely you have lots of wonderful
natives to plant.

English gardens are not usually created using native plants ;-)

RHS on Climate change !
http://www.rhs.org.uk/learning/resea...ange/index.asp


But you make an excellent point that plants may need less water than we
think. There is a tendency to water if you have it available, which can
discourage roots from heading down towards the deeper damp soil. Keeping
watering to a minimum, for example only t the initial planting/sowing,
helps develop a plant less dependent on high levels of water.
Kay


Nice site with photos / info about drought resistant plants
http://www.e-g-n.co.uk/index.html

Jenny

How to siphon bath water out of an upstairs bath, and into
the garden or a water butt.

I definitely did this in the past - but I can't work out how
using my previously suggested method - first slowly filling the
hose from the bath tap it was possible to first get the water
in the hose to climb out of the window.

The following method definitely will work however, if there
is an outside tap. Connect the hose to the outside tap at
one end and hold the other end of the hose under the water
in the bath by some means. Run the outside tap until water
is running into the bath. Then disconnect the outside tap
and the water will flow out of the bath.


michael adams

....

michael adams writes
Connect the hose to the outside tap at one end and hold the other end
of the hose under the water in the bath by some means. Run the outside
tap until water is running into the bath. Then disconnect the outside
tap and the water will flow out of the bath.

Now that's a nice elegant solution :-)
--
Kay

michael adams wrote:
How to siphon bath water out of an upstairs bath, and into
the garden or a water butt.

I definitely did this in the past - but I can't work out how
using my previously suggested method - first slowly filling the
hose from the bath tap it was possible to first get the water
in the hose to climb out of the window.
[...]

There was nothing wrong with the method you described: cork in the
bottom end, fill gently from top end. If one's alone, put a cork in the
top end (to be on the safe side), pop downstairs and remove bottom cork,
pop upstairs, remove top cork. If there are two of you, much exercise
will be avoided, and common sense will dictate the choreographing of
fingers in and out of the ends of the hose. Important to tie the hose to
one of the taps, or weigh it down with a brick, so that it doesn't
wriggle out of the bath just as you've gone out into the garden feeling
smug.

Note: to make a natural cork smaller, roll it back and forth under your
foot.

--
Mike.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
michael adams wrote:
How to siphon bath water out of an upstairs bath, and into
the garden or a water butt.

I definitely did this in the past - but I can't work out how
using my previously suggested method - first slowly filling the
hose from the bath tap it was possible to first get the water
in the hose to climb out of the window.
[...]

There was nothing wrong with the method you described: cork in the
bottom end, fill gently from top end.

Yebbut: I'm sure that's the way I did it. Its just it made such a
mess at the time, and invited such comment from the neighbours
more Gerry and Margot then Tom and Barbara, that it never got to
be a regular thing. So it was only done a few times.

However the main problem with my previous method is surely as
follows -

The point where the hose passes through the window is higher than the
open end of the hose under the tap. And water will find its own level.
So that rather than the water in the hose rising sufficiently to
get out the window, it will simply pour back out of the open
end under the tap. I think it took a lot of standing up with
the hose at arms length, so that all the water in the hose went
out and down through the window. This was the cause of a lot of
splashing and mess IIRR.

Also there's the problem that while you can carry the dry hose
up to the bathroom and feed it slowly through the window with
no problems, carrying a wet hose back through the house or pushing
the end of the wet hose back out through the window to end up
anywhere, possibly while its still containing some water is a
rather different matter.

Two or more person operations can also involve a lot of
"shouting", which is not only considered uttterly déclassé
in an urban environment, but can give rise to jocularity among the
neighbours, if things start to go wrong.

Not that they will of course.


michael adams

....



If one's alone, put a cork in the
top end (to be on the safe side), pop downstairs and remove bottom cork,
pop upstairs, remove top cork. If there are two of you, much exercise
will be avoided, and common sense will dictate the choreographing of
fingers in and out of the ends of the hose. Important to tie the hose to
one of the taps, or weigh it down with a brick, so that it doesn't
wriggle out of the bath just as you've gone out into the garden feeling
smug.

Note: to make a natural cork smaller, roll it back and forth under your
foot.

--
Mike.

VX wrote:
Er, what I mean is, I wonder if there is way? This may not be a profitable
avenue to explore but it would be great if there was some sort of
alternative. I hate the idea of wasting all that water just because I've
contaminated it by washing with soap in it....

Take a shower?

michael adams wrote:

Assuming the bathroom is upstairs you can do this quite easily by
siphoning it. If a hose is full of water with one end in the bath,
then providing the outlet at the other end is lower, all the water
in the bath will flow through the hose, even uphill, and out through
the bathroom window. Except for the final amount when you'll need
to hold up the end of the hose to allow the water to flow down
and through the window.


So what's to stop me "taking a bath with no soap" - to the brim - then
syphoning it out onto the garden? Once a day during a hosepipe ban.

wrote in message
oups.com...

michael adams wrote:

Assuming the bathroom is upstairs you can do this quite easily by
siphoning it. If a hose is full of water with one end in the bath,
then providing the outlet at the other end is lower, all the water
in the bath will flow through the hose, even uphill, and out through
the bathroom window. Except for the final amount when you'll need
to hold up the end of the hose to allow the water to flow down
and through the window.


So what's to stop me "taking a bath with no soap" - to the brim - then
syphoning it out onto the garden? Once a day during a hosepipe ban.


Absolutely nothing. In fact you do not even need to sit in the bath.
If you wished to be naughty just connect hose to bath tap and pretend you
are siphoning water :-)

writes

michael adams wrote:

Assuming the bathroom is upstairs you can do this quite easily by
siphoning it. If a hose is full of water with one end in the bath,
then providing the outlet at the other end is lower, all the water
in the bath will flow through the hose, even uphill, and out through
the bathroom window. Except for the final amount when you'll need
to hold up the end of the hose to allow the water to flow down
and through the window.


So what's to stop me "taking a bath with no soap" - to the brim - then
syphoning it out onto the garden? Once a day during a hosepipe ban.

Social conscience?
--
Kay